Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyema, has described Nigerian embassies as a national embarrassment.
The Minister painted a gloomy picture of the embassies while defending the N14.6 billion virement request his ministry made to the National Assembly.
He told the joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation that the virement should be approved to bail out the embassies.
“Most of you should be aware because you have visited some of the embassies. The situation is a national embarrassment. The situation is bad, it is horrible and should be addressed. School fees are not paid. In some cases electric bills are not paid. It is actually a national embarrassment,” the minister stated.
A member of the committee added that he visited France recently to learn that the local staff were being owed salaries for eight months.
The committee wanted the minister to confirm that if approved, the virement would address the problems of the embassies.
Onyema said that the fund would go a long way in addressing the problems of the embassies.
He requested that the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be denominated in dollar to prevent the issue of fluctuation of the Naira.
The Budget and National Office objected to the request saying that such denomination of the budget in dollar would create problem for budgeting process.
Onyema was also asked what his ministry does with the money embassies make from visa application and others.
The minister said that the money is usually remitted to the consolidated revenue fund of the country.
